Food and Wine Pairing

Food and wine pairing is an art that goes back in most cultures to the beginnings of civilization, often with a local cuisine evolving alongside the types of wines that are available in that region. Wine, after all, is generally intended as an accompaniment to food. So it makes sense that people throughout time have been trying to find the perfect match of wine and food for each type of dish or meal. There is something about the perfect combination of flavors in wine that can highlight, enhance and harmonize with the flavors in your food, making the overall culinary experience even greater than the sum of its parts. Here we will try to open your eyes to some of the possibilities of food and wine pairing and give some guidelines to start out your own experiments. If you are planning to host wine tastings or a dinner party, then having a good grip on which foods to serve with which wines, and visa versa, is very important.

How to Pair Wine and FoodHere we will give you an introduction to the general principles of food and wine pairing as well as some specific examples based on specific types of food.

Unique and Exotic Wine and Food PairingsBesides the classic, traditional food and wine pairings, there are occasionally unexpected surprises. Here are some pairing ideas for exotic foods, particularly for spicy Asian foods like Thai, Indian and Japanese cuisine.

What is an Apéritif?An apéritif is a starter wine that is generally served before the main meal or wine tasting. It is an opener which welcomes your guests and wakes up their taste buds to get them hungry for the wonderful wine and food to come! It is a great way to start an evening of food and wine.

Wine Tasting AppetizersIf you are hosting wine tastings, you know that guests get hungry when they start tasting wines. Here are some ideas for simple but delicious foods to serve at wine tastings even if the focus isn't on the food or a whole dinner.

Wine Dinner PartiesA wine theme dinner party is a great opportunity to focus on food and wine pairing and learn how certain foods work into the context of a meal. Besides matching each dish with wine, there is an art to the progression of how wines and food are served from apéritif through dessert.

How to Host a Food and Wine TastingHere we will give some specific tips on how to put together a tasting which focuses not just on the wine, but specifically on the wine and food pairing. While this can be simply a dinner party with wine paired with each dish, it can also be more like an actual wine tasting.

Cooking with WineOk, so cooking with wine isn't really wine and food pairing, but it is an important part of how wine and food anc compliment each other. Here is a bit of info about what it means to cook with wine and different ways to incorporate wine into your dishes.

Cheese and WineYes, cheese is food, but it is a special, unique and glorious type of food. And all cheese is not created equal, there are hundreds of varieties, flavors and types from around the world. Matching wine with cheese is an art unto itself, whether as a separate tasting, as a course in a wine dinner party or as accompaniment to wine tastings.

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Fromages.com is a great website which offers dozens of the finest French cheeses right from the source. They ship perfectly ripened and stored cheeses worldwide right to your door! It is hard to find authentic French cheeses so lovingly cared for in the US, but its all available here. Their website provides descriptions and information about each cheese as well as wine pairing suggestions. You can order individual cheeses or select from their cheese boards.